Rage Review

A visually stunning, relatively safe shooter from id Software.

As the enemies become more fearsome and contribute to a sense of mounting conflict, the environments match pace with increasingly complex and elaborate designs, culminating in some incredible combat zones toward the end of the game. Seemingly every inch of this post-apocalyptic virtual space is touched with unique art and texturing, creating a pervasive sense that this world looks authentic and lived-in. From the grimy, rusted architecture of the town of Wellspring to the dazzling exterior of Subway Town, spiny with jutting rail lines and sewers, to even the most basic bandit hideouts and broken buildings, the exploration spaces in Rage's world feel detailed in the most exhaustive, obsessive way possible.

Though so much of the world wants to kill you, inside the main towns you'll find vendors to buy and sell items, dig up side quests and participate in racing circuits. It's easy to lose track of what they say as you're distracted by the high quality of their movements facial animations, accentuating the care that clearly went into each and every character model. In fact, their appearance and accent constitutes the majority of their personality, since beyond the spectacle of their animations, few characters in Rage are particularly interesting.

Rage leaves the horror elements of Doom and Quake for an often quirky, goofy tone. You'll encounter a few truly strange characters, like an obese kingpin that runs a murder-for-entertainment show called Mutant Bash TV and a hermit of a scientist holed up in a sleek metallic lair, but they're exceptions in what's otherwise a bland cast. Most characters tend to be more memorable for their accessories – the head tattoo of Subway Town's leader, the glittering glasses of the first NPC you meet, the belly shirt of the girl who teaches you how to use wingsticks – than anything they say or do. The group of NPCs that eventually turn out to be plot-essential allies wind up being the most dull, predictable personalities in the game, and no compelling villain ever really emerges.

Instead you fight pockets of bandits, crazed mutants and the relatively faceless Authority. They're fun to shoot at, but no significant contextual drama is ever established over the course of Rage's roughly 10 to twelve hour run. The story is propelled by a series of short-term goals that gradually reveal bits of the overall tale and it's difficult to get invested in a world populated by characters that, for all the lifelike animations, feel more like court jesters than endearing characters. In its final moments Rage falters significantly, failing to deliver any kind of satisfying conclusion or encounter. You fight a lot of things in Rage, but it never feels like you're fighting for any reason other than your personal entertainment.

Rage's driving sections accentuate its goofy personality, and further diminish the meager amount of tension built up through story setup and combat encounters. In vehicles you shoot rockets and flip around in armored cars like in a kart racer. The controls and mechanics are surprisingly good, with responsive handling that makes looping around tracks and arena battle modes quite a bit of fun. Against the computer the matches can be dull, but online against others it's easy to have a good time pelting enemy players with machine guns in a number of modes.

There's quite a bit to unlock in online play too, including mortars, cluster bombs, and pulse cannons to outfit on your vehicle. The available modes offer a good mix of gameplay styles involving capture points. All kinds of arcade-like silliness are included here like quad-damage pickups, speed boosters and ramps, lending a manic style to the action reminiscent of older arena shooters like Quake III. For a developer with a track record like id Software to only include the car combat modes as an option for online competitive play is a little odd, though it can still serve as a nice bonus once you're done with the single-player content.

Co-operative play is also possible in standalone missions separated from the main story mode. With another player you can mow down enemies in pursuit of a high score. You get bonuses for headshots and skilled play, and a multiplier climbs so long as you continue to get kills and avoid dying while point totals pop up all over the screen like you were playing a slot machine, increasing the sense of reward. Playing through these challenges can be a fun diversion, but don't expect it to turn into any kind of lasting obsession.

If you really want to squeeze everything you can out of Rage, there are a number of side quests and mini-games to take part in. Throughout your adventure you'll find cards to use in a Magic-esque battle game, you can gamble in a knife game that Bishop from Aliens would easily win, or take on a few driving delivery quests. Many of the game's side quests obtained from NPCs or job boards in town are fairly basic, several simply repopulating the combat zones you already cleared on the main quest with enemies. Though useful for their rewards, the side quests aren't especially exciting. Rage's economy at least works well, and if you choose to clear all the side quests or have a good gambling run, there's quite a bit to spend money on as you purchase basic armor upgrades, new schematics and materials to craft new items. It's not an especially complicated system, but Rage's non-essential content gives you an ample amount of things to do if you want a break from the main progression.

The Verdict

Rage proves a lot of what we already knew about id Software. The studio knows how to make great shooters and deliver incredible visuals and animations. With some of the elements we&#Array;re not as familiar with in id games like an emphasis on story, Rage isn&#Array;t as strong. The great controls and useful weapon upgrades help make Rage&#Array;s shooting parts a lot of fun, but the storyline fails to create any real tension and the game&#Array;s characters, friendly and hostile, never do or say anything memorable. As a result, Rage starts to drag toward the second half after most of the mechanics and upgrades are introduced because the fictional world isn&#Array;t very interesting. Despite the lack of genuinely exciting context, all the content packed into Rage is still a blast to play, including the surprisingly entertaining car combat mode and co-operative challenges. Rage isn&#Array;t revolutionary, but is an expertly crafted, beautiful shooter.